Import Preview: Fire Emblem Awakening

With
Nintendo making a 3ds conference later today there are plenty of
games that people want to see announced today. One such game is Fire
Emblem Awakening. With the game already released in Japan people are
ready and hoping that the game will be announced this E3. Usually I
would review something like this, but I'm not ready to do that just
yet. Instead since I have no idea when a review will be coming I will
instead give you a preview of my hands on time with the game. Be
cautious this could go on for a while.

I
don't want to get into the story because I want to save that part for
the final review whenever it shows up. Instead lets just jump into
the game. When you first turn on the system your treated to a nice
opening cinematic. Compared to past Fire Emblem cinematic this one is
much more smooth. If you notice that the characters look different
it's because this tie they're done by the artist behind No More
Heros. Moving along it's time to start your game. You start off with
difficulty. Then you can pick if you want to turn off the permanent
death. For the sake of getting through this game and getting a review
out I went with easy and turned off permanent death. For Fire Emblem
fan I would recommend you turn on classic mode and play on at least
normal. However, don't feel bad if you turn off perma death as it can
make a battle far less stressful. No longer do you feel worried about
moves you just made or feel cheated when an enemy archer somehow
manages to pull of his 1% critical hit.

Sure
they Look different from past Fire Emblems but the result is still
amazing

Next
is your created character. Creation options aren't bad but they are
in no way good. You choose from a select few things. Height, hair
style, pre made face, hair color, and the sound of your voice. Sadly
you can't pick your class. My dreams of using my created character as
an assassin were quickly dropped. Instead your what's called a
strategist. You can use magic and swords making for an interesting
combination of close range and "long" range. After your character
is finished your thrown into more video and your first ever mission.
If you ever played a Fire Emblem the first mission is always the
epilogue. It's also the level that tells you exactly what to do and
when to do it. Go to square X, Attack enemy Y, Heal yourself, Pull of
a critical hit against the boss. This time the Tutorial is on the
bottom screen allowing you to do whatever you want. It's a small
change but not having to be told every turn what to do is a plus in
my book. Finish the chapter and your treated to another video that
has some story and you move on to the meat of the game.

You
start off with some dialogue and are then handed your first units.
You given your created character, the Lord, a cleric, and your
overpowered paladin. Then you start your first mission. New
characters are handed to you at a fairly quick pace. In fact when you
start the first mission your handed a cavalier and a archer right off
the bat. Here is when Fire Emblem get very familiar. One new feature
added to battle is a double attack. While not 100% reliable that it
will happen there are 2 ways you can pull this off. One is having
units stand in adjacent squares, this give the attacking unit bonuses
to their stats as well as having a chance to pull off a double
attack. The other is putting 2 units in a group. This is kind of like
when you could have a paladin pick up another unit in previous games
and carry them around. Only this time the second character joins you
in battle. When you do put 2 units together you will see 1 unit up
front and 1 unit behind them. You use the front units stats so
putting a slow character behind a paladin means you will have good
movement, or putting a cleric behind a knight means the cleric wont
get hit until the knight is gone. The same way you can do a defensive
block where a character will block for another which results in no
damage to either. This happens the same way but is much more
uncommon.

Your
main character of the game Chrom.

Outside
of battle there is also a lot you can do. Generally a side mission
will show up after 2 main missions, but there are also a lot of mini
skirmishes that you can do. You can also do things such as promote
your character. In this game promotions are a little different. There
are 2 items this time: one that promotes and one that demotes and
they can be used on anyone. Promotions can be given to anyone over
level 10 and usually they have 2 choices as to what they want to
become. Demotions is a little different. It's not really "demoting"
as it is changing their class however it starts them back at level 1
and usually results in negative stat gains. This is for when you have
a unit you don't use anymore and trying to give him a new class that
he can use and can help you in battle. For you created character you
can put him/her into whatever class you want now. A quick tip is to
demote your fighter to a barbarian, this way you can promote him to a
berserker fairly early in the game.

As
for new stuff added while out of battle there is a couple that come
to mind. Character can now marry each other which adds another layer
to battle. Characters do this by talking to each other or helping
each other in battle. Married characters seem to be in sync almost
always. They are very likely to pull of double attacks and are more
likely to defend each other in battle so you have incentive to play
match maker. Secondly, is spotpass characters. These are characters
from other games be it other people with Fire Emblem, or just classic
characters from older games. You can fight classic characters anytime
resulting in you having them join your party.(please note this is
different from the paid DLC which include Lords from past games but
also actual side story based missions.) Other created characters will
randomly appear on your map.

For
now I'll leave with that. If I had to give you a quick opinion on
the game I'll say this. It's probably one of the best if not the best
Fire Emblem I have ever played. For now We'll have to wait and see if
a U.S release will happen(It could happen tonight). I hope you look
forward to reading my full review of Fire Emblem Awakening coming
soon!